Title |
Exploring the viral landscape of saffron through metatranscriptomic analysis
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Published in |
Virus Research, May 2024
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DOI | 10.1016/j.virusres.2024.199389 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Cristian Martínez-Fajardo, Pablo Navarro-Simarro, Lucía Morote, Ángela Rubio-Moraga, María Mondéjar-López, Enrique Niza, Javier Argandoña, Oussama Ahrazem, Lourdes Gómez-Gómez, Alberto José López-Jiménez |
Abstract |
Saffron (Crocus sativus L.), a historically significant crop valued for its nutraceutical properties, has been poorly explored from a phytosanitary perspective. This study conducted a thorough examination of viruses affecting saffron samples from Spanish cultivars, using high-throughput sequencing alongside a systematic survey of transcriptomic datasets from Crocus sativus at the Sequence Read Archive. Our analysis unveiled a broad diversity and abundance, identifying 17 viruses across the 52 analyzed libraries, some of which were highly prevalent. This includes known saffron-infecting viruses and previously unreported ones. In addition, we discovered 7 novel viruses from the Alphaflexiviridae, Betaflexiviridae, Potyviridae, Solemoviridae, and Geminiviridae families, with some present in libraries from various locations. These findings indicate that the saffron-associated virome is more complex than previously reported, emphasizing the potential of phytosanitary analysis to enhance saffron productivity. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Spain | 5 | 56% |
Unknown | 4 | 44% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 6 | 67% |
Scientists | 2 | 22% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 11% |